S.Korea trade chief expects talks with US to gather momentum in coming weeks
By Jihoon Lee and Hyunjoo Jin
SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea will step up efforts to secure a trade deal in negotiations with the United States in the next few weeks, Seoul's top negotiator said on Tuesday, after political turmoil at home had dampened its progress in tariff talks.
His comments came after South Korea's new President Lee Jae Myung said that it is important for South Korea to remain competitive on tariffs with other countries.
"Progress has been sluggish for us, compared with some other major countries, due to various uncertainties, amid intense tariff negotiations being held globally," Minister for Trade Yeo Han-koo said at a meeting with officials from other ministries, held a day after a task force was set up to coordinate the government response.
However, with a new administration in place now, authorities would actively discuss key issues and prepare a package for a mutually beneficial outcome from the negotiations, Yeo said.
South Korea, currently subject to a blanket 10% tariff with a 25% country-specific duty on pause for 90 days, agreed with the U.S. in their opening round of trade talks in late April to craft a trade deal reducing tariffs by July 8.
However, political uncertainty triggered by leadership upheavals had stalled progress.
Seoul, which has a free trade deal with Washington, has been seeking a waiver from all fresh U.S. tariffs, though authorities have told Reuters that it would be challenging to achieve.
Yeo was appointed to the role last week by President Lee, who won a snap election on June 3 and had said during campaigning that there was no need to rush into a trade agreement with the United States.
He has since said he would speed up talks with Washington, and was set for the first face-to-face meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump later in the day on the sidelines of a Group of Seven summit in Canada.
But the meeting was canceled as Trump cut short his G7 visit and headed back to Washington to deal with the escalating Israel-Iran conflict.
As he departed for Canada, Lee told traveling reporters that it is vital that South Korean companies aren't put in a "disadvantageous situation" versus other countries on tariff rates.
"For us to be not in a worse-off situation, we need to be able to compare tariffs with other countries," said Kim Yong-jin, a management professor at Sogang University in Seoul.
An executive at a South Korean battery firm, speaking on condition of anonymity, echoed Lee's comments, saying that what is important is how much tariffs the U.S. would levy on other countries, such as China and Japan, which compete with Korea in key sectors like chips, batteries and cars.
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